Dr. Muriel Côte

Biography

Muriel Côte is an Associate Professor at Lund University, specializing in geographical research. She completed her PhD in Geography at the University of Edinburgh in 2014 and subsequently spent five years as a lecturer in Political Geography at the University of Zurich. In 2020, she began working at Lund University as a lecturer in the Development Geography group, directing and teaching in the LUMID program. Her research interests focus on the political economy of resource extraction and conservation, particularly in contexts where the state is considered weak or absent. Côte employs an ethnographic approach in her research, with empirical work primarily centered on gold mining, forest governance, and informal security provision in West Africa. She is also an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Environment, Politics, and Society and a member of the editorial board of EchoGéo. Her recent projects include examining the institutionalization of labor and environmental standards in certified gold supply chains, as well as the dynamics of non-state vigilante groups within security frameworks in fragile states.

Research Interests

Experience